Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations
Plot End tag Shirley is doing laundry in her garage and humming the song "Daybreak" when she notices a slight breeze coming from behind the "Shirley's Sandwiches" poster. She looks behind it and discovers a hole in the wall that Abed made to escape from her Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of being angry she states she'll have to remember that the escape route is there when Thanksgiving rolls around next year. Recurring themes Continuity *'Previously': **In Season Three Jeff is in therapy dealing with daddy issues and searches for his father in "Introduction to Finality". **Dean Pelton had previously read Jeff's e-mails in the Season Three episode "Studies in Modern Movement". **Andre Bennett's stereo business was first mentioned in the Season Three episode "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts". **Jeff reveals a scar right below his abs demonstrating to his father how he hurt himself just to get people to care about him. The scar seems to be located in the same area Jeff suffered a wound in the Season One episode "Modern Warfare". *'Climax': This episode is the end of Jeff's story arc with his father that has been hinted at since Season One. *'That just happened': In "Paranormal Parentage" it's revealed Jeff located his dad and Britta tries to convince him to get closure with his father. *'First appearance': Jeff's often mentioned father William Winger is finally introduced in this episode as is his half-brother Willy Jr. *'History lesson': **Jeff fills in his father about his past as a fake lawyer while William tries to regale him with a tale about how he impersonated Ralph Lauren before he is interrupted by Willy. He then tells Jeff how his half-brothers mom died twenty years ago and that despite his best efforts Willy Jr. hasn't matured. **Pictures of the study group can be seen at Shirley's including one of them (minus Pierce) in Halloween costumes from "Introduction to Statistics" on her fridge in the garage. *'Replay': **Shirley's response to Pierce agreeing to go to her Thanksgiving dinner echoes Annie's response to Shirley when she volunteered to do Senior pranks with her in "History 101". Both had actually intended for Jeff to join them and were disappointed when someone else volunteered. Dean Pelton then repeats the same response when inviting everyone to the "'Thanks Living'" pot luck. **William Winger decides to fake a heart attack just like Pierce had done before in "A Fistful of Paintballs" and "Advanced Gay". *'A sweet ride': Jeff's Lexus returns in this episode. *'Discontinuity': Abed is shown having difficulty moving the light weight Troy had been curling. In "The Politics of Human Sexuality", Abed has been shown to be surprisingly athletic and Troy's superior in a number of different athletic contests, including arm wrestling. *'School song': **"Greendale is Where I Belong" plays as Jeff and Willy Jr. hug in his Lexus. **Shirley hums "Daybreak" in the episode end tag. *'School supplies': **Jeff's cell phone is featured and he admits that he pretends to text to avoid interacting with people. **The poster Pierce created as a proposed logo for "Shirley's Sandwiches" in "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts" is shown again. *'School uniform': Shirley's apron that she used in the Season Three episode "Remedial Chaos Theory" is seen again in this episode. *'This must be the place': Shirley's house, William Winger's house and Group Study Room F are all seen in this episode. The bar Skeepers is mentioned by Pierce. *Winger speech: Jeff's speech let's his father know how much his absence has affected him. Running gags *'Annie's Boobs': Apparently Annie's aunt's boyfriend asks her if her breasts are real. *'Awww!: Annie and Shirley coo when they see that Jeff has set up a special Thanksgiving dinner for the study group in the study room. *'''Britta'd it: Jeff greets Britta after learning she had forced herself into his reunion with his father by saying she really "you'd" this one. *'Deanotation': The Dean greets the study group in his cowboy outfit by saying "How-Dean!". *'Gasp': Everybody gasp when Dean Pelton reveals that Jeff will spend Thanksgiving with his father and later when Jeffrey mentions that he has a half-brother. *'Gay, he's so gay!': Pierce suggests that Jeff is looking to come out of the closet to his father. *'Like an evil genie': When Jeff refuses to attend Shirley's Thanksgiving party, Shirley says she "can't think of anyone who would enjoy having him more". Cue the Dean. *'Mancrush': Dean Pelton touches Jeff inappropriately again on the shoulder and on the stomach in this episode. Jeff also invited Dean along to the special Thanksgiving dinner. *'Nice outfit': The Dean's John Wayne costume looks exactly like Jeff's cowboy outfit from "Introduction to Statistics", "A Fistful of Paintballs", and "For A Few Paintballs More". *'Sexy voice': Shirley does that a number of time during the episode, for instance when Pierce mentions carving the turkey and later when she first find the group hiding in the garage. *'That's you': Troy imitates Annie after she complains about normal thanksgiving dinners with her family. *'Turning it into a snake': Britta celebrates her part in getting Jeff to resolve his daddy issues by playing a loud boom box and trying to rap. *'WWBJD?': Shirley asks that her friends browse the available literature she has about taking Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. *'Whoops': Troy says too much when he says that they were about to eat the bad dip to escape Shirley's dinner. *'You're the worst!': **Annie calls Shirley's Thanksgiving dinner the Jonestown of dinners. **Jeff calls Britta the worst after realizing she was right about confronting his father. Pop culture references *'IMDb': Abed mentions "The Shawshank Redemtion", "Borat" and "Die Hard". *'Product placement': Abed mentions the restaurant Bennigans in his narration. *'Shout out': **Troy is forced to agree with one of Shirley's relatives that Batman is gay. **Pierce asks a family member if she is Tyler Perry in drag. **Abed starts narrating the dinner a la Morgan Freeman. **When Britta says that Psychology states there are no accidents, Jeff offers up Tara Reid. *'TV Guide': **Fox's "Prison break" is mentioned by Abed. **When Pierce entertains Shirley's family he calls it his personal "Showtime at the Apollo". *'Use your allusion': **Willy Jr. compares Jeff and himself to Schwarzenegger and De Vito. This is a reference to the 1988 movie "Twins" where Arnold Schwarzenegger was the genetically superior brother and Danny De Vito played his inferior twin. **When Jeff is surprised by the appearance of his half brother in his Lexus he proclaims: "What in the cat's cradle is going on?" a reference to the 1974 song "Cat's in the Cradle" which was about a father who was too busy to spend time with his son. ** When she learns that Jeff plans to spend Thanksgiving with his father, Britta does a victory dance to a song later used as the intro theme from "Brooklyn Nine-Nine". Reception 'Critical reaction' '''Ratings ''Community's ratings rose 25% from the previous week's episode,and it recieved a 1.5/5 according to tvbythenumbers ''. This placed it third in its timeslot (but fourth in total viewers) and making it by a pretty wide margin the most watched show on NBC that night. On the Twitter, #HappyThanksgiving trended in the US for at least ten minutes after the episode ended in the Central and Eastern time zones. Production Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations.jpg Hmmm.jpg On September 17, 2012, Community writer Steve Basilone tweeted a picture of the front of the script. On September 18, 2012, online entertainment news sites Entertainment Weekly and TV Line both reported that this episode was to introduce Jeff's father to be portrayed by actor James Brolin. Joel McHale would later tweet a photo of himself and Brolin on set during filiming of the episode. At the same time, Brolin had also been cast as the father of Richard Castle on the ABC crime drama "Castle". Quotes External links Entertainment Weekly article on Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations Category:Community Episodes Category:Season 4 Episodes Category:Jeff and Britta